1st
Prize
2001
Hartford Fair
Pennsylvania
Certified Organic
Pure
Maple Syrup
On our farm in Northeastern
PA, during February and March, when temperatures begin fluctuating
between freezing and thawing, you will find us collecting sap,
and boiling it down into maple syrup.
Syrup making begins
with the selection of the healthiest sugar maple trees. A small
hole is drilled into the tree at about waist height just as
the days begin to warm. We insert a spout into the hole
and this allows us to catch the liquid that drips from the
tree. This liquid, measuring about 2% sugar, is called sap.
We use both buckets and long tubes to collect this sap.
“Saps running”
Collection of
sap depends on flow. Flow depends on weather. After a cold
night, if the temperature rises during the day to above freezing,
we can be assured that sap will begin to drip from the holes
in the trees. We go into the woods with tractors or horses
and collect into large tanks, carrying the sap back to the
sugarhouse where it is placed into another larger tank that
gravity feeds to the evaporator. A good sugaring forecast
consists of days in the 40s or 50s and nights in the 20s
or 30s. Sometimes this works out for us sometimes we have
to wait.
Making syrup
The sap flows from the large tank into the evaporator.
Evaporators come in different varieties, from a kettle over
an open fire to huge
stainless steel complicated machinery. Ours is of a
moderate size, 12 feet long, of stainless steel and fired
with wood. Our evaporator boils about 100 gallons of sap
per hour, to make 2 and 1/2 gallons of syrup. This
means 97 gallons of water come out of the sap as steam. The
end result, however, is the same. As the sap boils,
the steam rises, removing water and making a concentrate. As
new sap is added, the sap flows through channels in the pans,
increasing in density, as it becomes syrup.. When the liquid
is 7 degrees above the temperature of boiling water it is
syrup. When the syrup is hot we bottle it and the jar
seals as it cools. Some syrup is also cooked down further
into candy. Please feel welcome to visit the sugar
house to learn more about this process.
In
the end, it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon
of syrup. On average our trees have produced a quart
of syrup per tap, but each tree is unique and these amounts
can fluctuate enormously. Fallen trees from the woods
around the farm provide us with ample fuel for the evaporator. It
takes about a cord of wood for every 30 gallons of syrup produced. At
the end of season, after hauling buckets chopping wood, stacking
wood, and loading the fire, everyone's arms feel a bit stronger. Come
join us in a collection round for a free workout.
The Taste
Maple syrup is potent and delicious; a
wonderfully adaptable sweetener that can be used in anything
from coffee to baked goods pancakes to biscuits. Many
recipes are available in cookbooks or on the World Wide Web.
Come visit us in late February or March
at Spring Hills farm to see more.
BOTTLED SYRUP FOR SALE
Our syrup
is available in a number of different sizes. We also
offer syrup in decorative bottles.
Gallon: $40.00
Quart: $12.00
Pint: $7.00
500ml Decorative bottle: $10.00
250ml Decorative bottle: $5.00
Please e-mail or call us at (570) 563-1871 for ordering information.
